One type of prior art clips, which use pivotable jaws, are generally known as butterfly clips. These clips comprise two concave jaw members having tines and being joined along a pivot axis or hinge. A metal spring arrangement is provided at the pivot axis to resiliently urge the tines of the jaws to a closed position to grip the hair. To enable the tines to be disengaged and the jaws opened, the jaws are provided with lever members (some times called arms or handles) extending there from at a position away from the tines. This gives the clip the classic butterfly appearance and hence its common name. When the clips are worn, the primary visible parts are the lever members, the hinge, and the spring mechanism. The problem is that although these clips are easy to use, the spring, hinge and lever members are not very aesthetically appealing, especially the levers because they protrude. Another problem is that the jaws don't open very wide, thus not grabbing enough hair, because the lever members run into each other when pinched together. Further, the user has to continuously hold the levers pinched together to keep the jaws open, until the user's hairstyle is in place.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved hair clip that overcomes the deficiencies in the ‘butterfly’ clip.